State gives districts option to sign with vendors
By Claudia Lauer - The Sun News
Rebecca Koenig/The Sun News
Students board buses at Myrtle Beach Middle School. Horry County schools had a meeting with a vendor about school bus advertising on Jan 18.Advertisements targeting school-age children could be making their way to Horry County school buses.
The S.C. Education Department has given the OK to school districts to start the advertising program under a general contract it signed with SAC Inc., an advertising firm in Warrenville, at the end of November.
"The state has given us the option, and we had a meeting with the advertising vendor that was purely informational," said Teal Britton, Horry County Schools spokeswoman. "There are lots of things that are yet to be determined, in terms of what the financial benefit would be to school districts."
The advertising company's contract with the state specifies that SAC will receive 20 percent of the revenue for each ad; the state, about 80 percent.
"The way the contract works is 80.1 percent of the gross income goes to the state technically because the state owns the property," said Don Tudor, director of the state Education Department's transportation office. "We recognize that these revenues should be appropriately shared with the school district. It is not the state who will be responsible for determining if the advertising is appropriate, and it's the children that make the advertising valuable."
Continued . . .
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Staff changes not expected over primary
By Mike Cherney - The Sun News
Three members of the Horry County Election Commission said they do not anticipate any staffing changes in the county election office after a programming error disabled voting machines during last Saturday's S.C. Republican presidential primary.
Donna Royson, the deputy director of the S.C. State Election Commission, said Tuesday the state commission will help the county determine exactly what went wrong.
Larry Leagans, Gene Sparks and Deborah Johnson, three members of the county commission, said the commission will meet after the S.C. Democratic presidential primary this Saturday to ensure that similar mistakes do not happen again.
"We're going to try to turn over every stone that needs to be turned over," Leagans said. "I don't see any kind of staffing issues. A mistake was made, and we need to find out why the mistake was made."
During the S.C. Republican primary, State Rep. Tracy Edge, a campaign official with Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential bid, called for Sandy Martin, the county's election director, to be fired. McCain won the state and the county's votes.
"They need to explain how not changing any staff is going to be sure that no more mistakes are going to be made in the future," Edge said Tuesday. "They need to make a complete report to tell us all exactly what went wrong and why and who failed to do their job."
The five members of the election commission are responsible for hiring and firing the county's election director. Leagans said the commission meets on an as-needed basis.
Continued . . .
Three members of the Horry County Election Commission said they do not anticipate any staffing changes in the county election office after a programming error disabled voting machines during last Saturday's S.C. Republican presidential primary.
Donna Royson, the deputy director of the S.C. State Election Commission, said Tuesday the state commission will help the county determine exactly what went wrong.
Larry Leagans, Gene Sparks and Deborah Johnson, three members of the county commission, said the commission will meet after the S.C. Democratic presidential primary this Saturday to ensure that similar mistakes do not happen again.
"We're going to try to turn over every stone that needs to be turned over," Leagans said. "I don't see any kind of staffing issues. A mistake was made, and we need to find out why the mistake was made."
During the S.C. Republican primary, State Rep. Tracy Edge, a campaign official with Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential bid, called for Sandy Martin, the county's election director, to be fired. McCain won the state and the county's votes.
"They need to explain how not changing any staff is going to be sure that no more mistakes are going to be made in the future," Edge said Tuesday. "They need to make a complete report to tell us all exactly what went wrong and why and who failed to do their job."
The five members of the election commission are responsible for hiring and firing the county's election director. Leagans said the commission meets on an as-needed basis.
Continued . . .
Sunday, January 20, 2008
SC voting machines not set to zero before voting started
Sun, 01/20/2008 - 00:14 - Wire Services
The voting machines in Horry County, South Carolina were not reset to zero before the first voters came to cast their ballots, the state's Election Commission admitted today.
The Commission stated that the technicians perform a "clear and test" procedure on all machines prior to the machines accepting votes, but in this case, it was not carried out before people arrived at the precincts to vote.
"This resets the test votes recorded on the machine to zero," a press release by the Commission read. "Without performing this measure, the voting system will not allow machines to be opened for voting on election day."
But the Commission blamed the delay on human error, even though Election Systems & Software voting machines used in South Carolina were decertified by the California Secretary of State last year, after the company refused to provide information necessary to review the voting systems, as required by state law.
"Some voters cast paper ballots today in 15-20 precincts because voting machines were not ready to accept votes," the Commission stated. "This issue was due to a human error in preparing the machines for the primary.
The 2008 Primary season has been wracked by allegations of vote fraud stemming from the use of unreliable and easily hackable voting machines belonging to Diebold and ES&S and other vendors.
New Hampshire was forced to carry out a state-wide manual recount after discrepancies emerged between hand counted and machine counted votes.
The voting machines in Horry County, South Carolina were not reset to zero before the first voters came to cast their ballots, the state's Election Commission admitted today.
The Commission stated that the technicians perform a "clear and test" procedure on all machines prior to the machines accepting votes, but in this case, it was not carried out before people arrived at the precincts to vote.
"This resets the test votes recorded on the machine to zero," a press release by the Commission read. "Without performing this measure, the voting system will not allow machines to be opened for voting on election day."
But the Commission blamed the delay on human error, even though Election Systems & Software voting machines used in South Carolina were decertified by the California Secretary of State last year, after the company refused to provide information necessary to review the voting systems, as required by state law.
"Some voters cast paper ballots today in 15-20 precincts because voting machines were not ready to accept votes," the Commission stated. "This issue was due to a human error in preparing the machines for the primary.
The 2008 Primary season has been wracked by allegations of vote fraud stemming from the use of unreliable and easily hackable voting machines belonging to Diebold and ES&S and other vendors.
New Hampshire was forced to carry out a state-wide manual recount after discrepancies emerged between hand counted and machine counted votes.
Voters Turned Away Amongst Complete Chaos in Horry County, South Carolina Primary
By Matthew Jarfi
Make A Difference In Horry County
Chaos would be an understatement in describing the handling of the 2008 Republican Primary Elections in Horry County, South Carolina this past Saturday evening. Horry County is located on the coast of South Carolina and is home to Myrtle Beach. Murphy’s Law was in full effect for the Horry County Elections Commission as things that could go wrong, did go wrong.
A massive 80% of the ESS electronic voting machines were not able to “open up” in Saturday’s primary forcing almost all Horry County precincts to use paper ballots. When precincts opened Saturday morning a majority of the voting machines would not work at all. The Seawinds precinct had reported that the electronic voting machines were down “county wide.”
Paper ballots were issued to Horry County citizens in replacement of the voting machines. The process at the Seawinds precinct was you would take the backup ballot to a table and fill in the bubble next to the candidate that you wished to select in the primary. After filling in the bubble, you would next fold your ballot back and slide it in the manila envelope that you were given and return it to the precinct worker. On one side of the manila envelope you would put your name, address, and your signature. However, this was not protocol in Horry County.
Make A Difference In Horry County has confirmed that some precincts passed out legal pads and simply asked the voters to write their candidate’s name on the 8.5X11 paper. Early reports show that one precinct reportedly turned away voters for seven hours consecutively while at least one other precinct turned away voters but it is currently unknown as to how long. While it is still very early, it is not understood as to why this happened. If one precinct was able to simply ask voters to cast their ballot by writing their candidate down on a piece of paper, than why would another precinct turn away voters?
For those in Horry County who are not a fan of the electronic voting machines, the disabled machines could have been a blessing in disguise. The reason is simply because the South Carolina state Constitution specifically notes that ballots are not allowed be counted in secret. As it has been speculated that this only applies to the paper balloting, there was no back door for Horry County as the paper ballots had to be counted in public.
Voter Fraud?
As Make A Difference In Horry County will investigate the plethora of information that was recorded via video and transcript over the election day, we will also be looking into a potential situation where voter fraud could have taken place. Our reasons for this include the fact that technicians did repair voting machines at precincts where voting machines were down, but it is unknown if the machines were set to a zero count. Additionally, votes were casted on yellow legal pad paper at a particular precinct and later counted in a room filled with stacks of the identical same yellow legal pad paper that was openly used by county officials while those ballots were being counted leaving the possibility open that there could have been suspicious activities to have taken place.
Please stay tuned for the latest information at www.madinhorrycounty.com
Make A Difference In Horry County
Chaos would be an understatement in describing the handling of the 2008 Republican Primary Elections in Horry County, South Carolina this past Saturday evening. Horry County is located on the coast of South Carolina and is home to Myrtle Beach. Murphy’s Law was in full effect for the Horry County Elections Commission as things that could go wrong, did go wrong.
A massive 80% of the ESS electronic voting machines were not able to “open up” in Saturday’s primary forcing almost all Horry County precincts to use paper ballots. When precincts opened Saturday morning a majority of the voting machines would not work at all. The Seawinds precinct had reported that the electronic voting machines were down “county wide.”
Paper ballots were issued to Horry County citizens in replacement of the voting machines. The process at the Seawinds precinct was you would take the backup ballot to a table and fill in the bubble next to the candidate that you wished to select in the primary. After filling in the bubble, you would next fold your ballot back and slide it in the manila envelope that you were given and return it to the precinct worker. On one side of the manila envelope you would put your name, address, and your signature. However, this was not protocol in Horry County.
Make A Difference In Horry County has confirmed that some precincts passed out legal pads and simply asked the voters to write their candidate’s name on the 8.5X11 paper. Early reports show that one precinct reportedly turned away voters for seven hours consecutively while at least one other precinct turned away voters but it is currently unknown as to how long. While it is still very early, it is not understood as to why this happened. If one precinct was able to simply ask voters to cast their ballot by writing their candidate down on a piece of paper, than why would another precinct turn away voters?
For those in Horry County who are not a fan of the electronic voting machines, the disabled machines could have been a blessing in disguise. The reason is simply because the South Carolina state Constitution specifically notes that ballots are not allowed be counted in secret. As it has been speculated that this only applies to the paper balloting, there was no back door for Horry County as the paper ballots had to be counted in public.
Voter Fraud?
As Make A Difference In Horry County will investigate the plethora of information that was recorded via video and transcript over the election day, we will also be looking into a potential situation where voter fraud could have taken place. Our reasons for this include the fact that technicians did repair voting machines at precincts where voting machines were down, but it is unknown if the machines were set to a zero count. Additionally, votes were casted on yellow legal pad paper at a particular precinct and later counted in a room filled with stacks of the identical same yellow legal pad paper that was openly used by county officials while those ballots were being counted leaving the possibility open that there could have been suspicious activities to have taken place.
Please stay tuned for the latest information at www.madinhorrycounty.com
Friday, January 18, 2008
Canada puts U.S., Israel on torture watchlist -CTV
Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:32am EST
OTTAWA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - An official Canadian government document has put both the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners run the risk of being tortured, CTV television reported on Thursday.
The revelation is likely to embarrass the minority Conservative government, which is a staunch U.S. ally.
The document mentions the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held.
CTV said the document was part of a course on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats to help them determine whether prisoners they visited abroad had been mistreated.
It said the document mentioned U.S. interrogation techniques such as "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation."
Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran and Afghanistan, CTV said.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier tried to distance Ottawa from the document.
CONTINUED . . .
OTTAWA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - An official Canadian government document has put both the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners run the risk of being tortured, CTV television reported on Thursday.
The revelation is likely to embarrass the minority Conservative government, which is a staunch U.S. ally.
The document mentions the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held.
CTV said the document was part of a course on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats to help them determine whether prisoners they visited abroad had been mistreated.
It said the document mentioned U.S. interrogation techniques such as "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation."
Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran and Afghanistan, CTV said.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier tried to distance Ottawa from the document.
CONTINUED . . .
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Bogus Iran story was product of Pentagon spokesman, reporter says
John Byrne
Published: Wednesday January 16, 2008
An American journalist and historian who was the first to break the story of a secret Iranian peace overture to the Bush Administration in 2006 alleges that the latest Pentagon encounter between Iranian ships and a Navy vessel was a deliberate fabrication.
The incident, on Jan. 5 in Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast, was originally described as a non-event -- then quickly became one in which Iranian boats threatened to "explode" American ships.
At about 4 am on Monday Jan. 7, the commander of the Fifth Fleet issued a news release on an incident with small Iranian boats. According to reporter Gareth Porter, writing in the Asia Times, "the release reported that the Iranian "small boats" had "maneuvered aggressively in close proximity of [sic] the Hopper [the lead ship of the three-ship convoy]. But it did not suggest that the Iranian boats had threatened the boats or that it had nearly resulted in firing on the Iranian boats."
"On the contrary, the release made the US warships handling of the incident sound almost routine," he adds. "'Following standard procedures,' the release said, "Hopper issued warnings, attempted to establish communications with the small boats and conducted evasive maneuvering.'"
No reference was made to a US ship nearly firing on an Iranian vessel, or suggestions that the US ships would "explode," or white boxes dropped into the water in the path of the US fleet.
This press release, however, went ignored by the media, Porter notes. Instead, the focus turned to CNN's Barbara Starr, who touted allegations that military officials told her Iranian boats were carrying out "threatening maneuvers." CBS soon followed up with a story positing that the Persians had dropped white boxes in the water around the American ships.
CONTINUED . . .
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
'Second Thoughts about Fluoride,' Reports Scientific American
PR Newswire January 2, 2008"Some recent studies suggest that over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland," reports Scientific American editors (January 2008). "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to shift," writes author Dan Fagin.
"Fluoride, the most consumed drug in the USA, is deliberately added to 2/3 oFf public water supplies theoretically to reduce tooth decay, but with no scientifically-valid evidence proving safety or effectiveness," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.
Fagin, award-wining environmental reporter and Director of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, writes, "There is no universally accepted optimal level for daily intake of fluoride." Some researchers even wonder whether the 1 mg/L added into drinking water is too much, reports Fagin.
After 3 years of scrutinizing hundreds of studies, a National Research Council(NRC) committee "concluded that fluoride can subtly alter endocrine function,especially in the thyroid -- the gland that produces hormones regulating growth and metabolism," reports Fagin.
Fagin quotes John Doull, professor emeritus of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, who chaired the NRC committee thusly, "The thyroid changes do worry me."
CONTINUED . . .
Some Strand polling places have changed
By Tonya Root - The Sun News
Horry and Georgetown voters should double-check where they will be voting in the upcoming presidential primaries because some locations have changed, according to county election officials.
A few polling locations were temporarily moved for this month's primaries and new ones were added after reorganization, local officials said.
The Republican primary is Saturday, and the Democratic primary is Jan. 26. Polling place changes affect 12 sites in Horry County and one in Georgetown County, according to election officials, but all other voters should be able to vote at their normal polling site, officials said.
Statewide, one-fifth of regular state polling places will be closed as a result of a state law passed last year that gives control of the primaries to the S.C. State Election Commission. About 400 of 2,200 polling places will be merged, said State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire.
Officials said the change was meant to ensure a professionally run election, using state resources and electronic voting machines.
And in an effort to limit costs, the legislature required local election officials to merge some precincts into one polling place.
In Georgetown County, officials moved one polling site because the previous location was no longer available for use, said Billy Altman, chairman of the county's Board of Election and Registration. The location of the Bethel precinct was moved to the Georgetown County Fire Station No. 5, 303 Georgetown Highway, Altman said.
But no sites had to be consolidated, he said.
Horry County officials said they also did not consolidate any polls for the primaries but did change four polling sites for the primaries.
"Last year we did some reorganization of precincts and so we've got several new places voters will be voting at because of that," said Sandy Martin, Horry County's Voters Registration and Election director.
In addition to four temporary sites, Martin said four new precincts were added and four were changed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLLING PLACES
HORRY COUNTY
New precincts
Carolina Forest No. 2 at Carolina Forest High School, 700 Gardner Lacy Road, Myrtle Beach
Emerald Forest No. 2 at St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church, 300 Ronald McNair Blvd., Myrtle Beach
Emerald Forest No. 3 at Ocean Bay Middle School, 905 International Drive, Myrtle Beach
Windy Hill No. 2 at North Myrtle Beach Fire Station No. 5, 4740 Barefoot Resort Blvd., North Myrtle Beach
Temporary voting precincts
Myrtlewood No. 3 at St. John Green Orthodox Church, 3301 U.S. 17 Bypass, Myrtle Beach
Ocean Drive No. 2 at North Myrtle Beach Primary School, 901 11th Ave. N., North Myrtle Beach
Ocean Forest No. 2 and No. 3, both at FUM Church Britton Center, 904 65th Ave. N. next to the YMCA, Myrtle Beach
New permanent voting location changes
Adrian at Academy of Technology and Academics, 5639 U.S. 701 N., Conway
Deerfield at Lakewood Conference Center, 5901 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach
Enterprise at Socastee Library, 141 U.S. 707 Connector Road, Myrtle Beach
Jet Port No. 2 at Myrtle Beach Recreation Center, 800 Gabreski Lane, Myrtle Beach
GEORGETOWN COUNTY
Temporary voting precinct
Bethel at Georgetown County Fire Station No. 5, 303 Georgetown Highway, Georgetown
Horry and Georgetown voters should double-check where they will be voting in the upcoming presidential primaries because some locations have changed, according to county election officials.
A few polling locations were temporarily moved for this month's primaries and new ones were added after reorganization, local officials said.
The Republican primary is Saturday, and the Democratic primary is Jan. 26. Polling place changes affect 12 sites in Horry County and one in Georgetown County, according to election officials, but all other voters should be able to vote at their normal polling site, officials said.
Statewide, one-fifth of regular state polling places will be closed as a result of a state law passed last year that gives control of the primaries to the S.C. State Election Commission. About 400 of 2,200 polling places will be merged, said State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire.
Officials said the change was meant to ensure a professionally run election, using state resources and electronic voting machines.
And in an effort to limit costs, the legislature required local election officials to merge some precincts into one polling place.
In Georgetown County, officials moved one polling site because the previous location was no longer available for use, said Billy Altman, chairman of the county's Board of Election and Registration. The location of the Bethel precinct was moved to the Georgetown County Fire Station No. 5, 303 Georgetown Highway, Altman said.
But no sites had to be consolidated, he said.
Horry County officials said they also did not consolidate any polls for the primaries but did change four polling sites for the primaries.
"Last year we did some reorganization of precincts and so we've got several new places voters will be voting at because of that," said Sandy Martin, Horry County's Voters Registration and Election director.
In addition to four temporary sites, Martin said four new precincts were added and four were changed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLLING PLACES
HORRY COUNTY
New precincts
Carolina Forest No. 2 at Carolina Forest High School, 700 Gardner Lacy Road, Myrtle Beach
Emerald Forest No. 2 at St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church, 300 Ronald McNair Blvd., Myrtle Beach
Emerald Forest No. 3 at Ocean Bay Middle School, 905 International Drive, Myrtle Beach
Windy Hill No. 2 at North Myrtle Beach Fire Station No. 5, 4740 Barefoot Resort Blvd., North Myrtle Beach
Temporary voting precincts
Myrtlewood No. 3 at St. John Green Orthodox Church, 3301 U.S. 17 Bypass, Myrtle Beach
Ocean Drive No. 2 at North Myrtle Beach Primary School, 901 11th Ave. N., North Myrtle Beach
Ocean Forest No. 2 and No. 3, both at FUM Church Britton Center, 904 65th Ave. N. next to the YMCA, Myrtle Beach
New permanent voting location changes
Adrian at Academy of Technology and Academics, 5639 U.S. 701 N., Conway
Deerfield at Lakewood Conference Center, 5901 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach
Enterprise at Socastee Library, 141 U.S. 707 Connector Road, Myrtle Beach
Jet Port No. 2 at Myrtle Beach Recreation Center, 800 Gabreski Lane, Myrtle Beach
GEORGETOWN COUNTY
Temporary voting precinct
Bethel at Georgetown County Fire Station No. 5, 303 Georgetown Highway, Georgetown
Monday, January 14, 2008
Study "Disproving" Mercury-Autism Link Published in Journal with Financial Ties to Vaccine Manufacturers
(NewsTarget) While the mainstream press is widely reporting a new study "disproving" any link between autism and mercury-containing thimerosal in vaccines, no one has bothered to point out that the study was published in a medical journal stacked full of ads from the very same drug companies that manufacture and market vaccines. The Journal, the Archives of General Psychiatry, is the pro-drug psychiatric arm of the American Medical Association, a pill-pushing organization tarnished by a history of conspiracy against alternative medicine and the promotion of toxic substances like cigarettes with full-page ads in its flagship publication, JAMA.
From the outset, the fact that this study appears in a pro-drug, pro-psychiatry journal should bring pause to any scientific-minded person. There is obviously a serious conflict of interest here, especially if this study is to be taken as "fact" and applied to public health policy. There also need to be a close look at any financial links between the researchers involved in this study and various vaccine manufacturers, as virtually all pro-drug "science" (if you can call it that) being published these days is influenced by Big Pharma money.
The only truly honest, independent, peer-reviewed medical journal operating today is PLoS Medicine, an open-source journal that takes no money from drug companies. Notice that the autism/mercury link study did not appear in PLoS Medicine? No, it had to be published with a home field advantage in a pro-drug publication that maintains a strong bias in favor of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
Junk science and faulty conclusions
Aside from these obvious and worrisome conflicts of interest, the conclusions being made about autism and vaccines in the mainstream media are simply not supported by the study. The (distorted) logic we're hearing goes like this:
Yes, vaccines used to contain mercury. And yes, all those little kids were injected with mercury. And yes, autism rates skyrocketed. But then when the mercury was taken out of the vaccines, the autism rates didn't come back down. Therefore, the logic goes, vaccines are safe!
Continued . . .
MB Council to get a public meeting report from DHEC on AVX pollution
By Steve Porter
The Herald
Myrtle Beach—Myrtle Beach City attorney Tom Ellenburg reported to the Myrtle Beach City Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control would likely appear before the council, in public session, at its next meeting on Jan. 22.
The purpose would be to give the council a full report on the cleaning solution that spilled into the area surrounding the AVX plant, causing concerns about longterm health effects and financial damage to owners of surrounding properties.
A recent public hearing on the problem was held by DHEC for local property owners and residents and the severity of the problem at the time was significantly downgraded, but concerns remain and Ellenburg said he asked a DHEC official at that meeting to consider making a report to city council. That is now apparently in the works.
“Hopefully it will provide more finality than we have heard to date,” said Ellenburg.
He also reported that he and Tom Leath, the city manager, other city officials, and AVX officials and legal counsel had also been meeting and having what he called “frank discussions about the past and future,” of the problem.He said the next phase of the issue would be for remediation options to be discussed, but that those options cannot be determined until the “boundaries of the pollution plume” can be determined by continuing measurements of the area around the plant.
Continued . . .
60 Years of Empire
By SAUL LANDAU
Look at 2008 symbolically! Some 60 years ago, the United States emerged as the world power. Henry Luce formally announced the arrival of "The American Century" even before the country entered World War II. Luce thought the United States should become the world's missionary, spreading Christian values and democracy. US history had woven together a people with noble purpose, Luce argued, and had "the most exciting flag of all the world and of all history," blowing toward the "triumphal purpose of freedom."
Luce, owner of the publishing empire (Time, Life and Fortune), waxed eloquent, calling on all Americans "each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of his vision, to create the first great American Century.
It happened. After World War II, Luce's dream conditions became reality. The United States possessed more than 50% of the world's manufacturing capacity. The powers of Europe and Asia lay in ruins. But politicians and media eschewed the word "empire" to describe the nation that used its dollar as world currency base, set up vast military alliances (NATO, CENTO and SEATO) and, by the early 1950s, had established military bases in scores of other countries and begun to stockpile nuclear weapons.
Continued . . .
Look at 2008 symbolically! Some 60 years ago, the United States emerged as the world power. Henry Luce formally announced the arrival of "The American Century" even before the country entered World War II. Luce thought the United States should become the world's missionary, spreading Christian values and democracy. US history had woven together a people with noble purpose, Luce argued, and had "the most exciting flag of all the world and of all history," blowing toward the "triumphal purpose of freedom."
Luce, owner of the publishing empire (Time, Life and Fortune), waxed eloquent, calling on all Americans "each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of his vision, to create the first great American Century.
It happened. After World War II, Luce's dream conditions became reality. The United States possessed more than 50% of the world's manufacturing capacity. The powers of Europe and Asia lay in ruins. But politicians and media eschewed the word "empire" to describe the nation that used its dollar as world currency base, set up vast military alliances (NATO, CENTO and SEATO) and, by the early 1950s, had established military bases in scores of other countries and begun to stockpile nuclear weapons.
Continued . . .
What Happens to Your Body Within an Hour of Drinking a Coke
Do you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can’t even state all the consequences. Here’s what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke:Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.
Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.
Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.
Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.
After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.
Sources:
Nutrition Research Center October 24, 2007
Does Animal Testing Help Human Medicine?
33 Facts to be Considered
(1) Less than 2% of human illnesses (1.16%) are ever seen in animals.
(2) According to the former scientific executive of Huntingdon Life Sciences, animal tests and human results agree only "5%-25% of the time".
(3) 95% of drugs passed by animal tests are immediately discarded as useless or dangerous to humans.
(4) At least 50 drugs on the market cause cancer in laboratory animals. They are allowed because it is admitted the animal tests are not relevant.
(5) Procter & Gamble used an artificial musk despite it failing the animal tests, i.e., causing tumours in mice. They said the animal test results were "of little relevance for humans".
(6) When asked if they agreed that animal experiments can be misleading "because of anatomical and physiological differences between animals and humans", 88% of doctors agreed.
(7) Rats are only 37% effective in identifying what causes cancer to humans. Flipping a coin would be more accurate.
(8) Rodents are the animals almost always used in cancer research. They never get carcinomas, the human form of cancer, which affects membranes (e.g lung cancer). Their sarcomas affect bone and connecting tissue: the two cannot be compared.
(9) Up to 90% of animal test results are discarded as they are inapplicable to man.
(10) The results from animal experiments can be altered by factors such as diet and bedding. Bedding has been identified as giving cancer rates of over 90% and almost nil in the same strain of mice at different locations.
Continued . . .
(1) Less than 2% of human illnesses (1.16%) are ever seen in animals.
(2) According to the former scientific executive of Huntingdon Life Sciences, animal tests and human results agree only "5%-25% of the time".
(3) 95% of drugs passed by animal tests are immediately discarded as useless or dangerous to humans.
(4) At least 50 drugs on the market cause cancer in laboratory animals. They are allowed because it is admitted the animal tests are not relevant.
(5) Procter & Gamble used an artificial musk despite it failing the animal tests, i.e., causing tumours in mice. They said the animal test results were "of little relevance for humans".
(6) When asked if they agreed that animal experiments can be misleading "because of anatomical and physiological differences between animals and humans", 88% of doctors agreed.
(7) Rats are only 37% effective in identifying what causes cancer to humans. Flipping a coin would be more accurate.
(8) Rodents are the animals almost always used in cancer research. They never get carcinomas, the human form of cancer, which affects membranes (e.g lung cancer). Their sarcomas affect bone and connecting tissue: the two cannot be compared.
(9) Up to 90% of animal test results are discarded as they are inapplicable to man.
(10) The results from animal experiments can be altered by factors such as diet and bedding. Bedding has been identified as giving cancer rates of over 90% and almost nil in the same strain of mice at different locations.
Continued . . .
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Who Owns Your Candidate? Clinton, Obama & Edwards
by seanarama
Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 11:05:09 AM PST
If lobbyists give a politician enough money, they think they own that politician. And they’re probably right.
Let’s see who’s giving what to who ... and who "owns" which candidates.
After all, if you give a candidate $2,300, and convince 100 of your friends/co-workers/underlings to give him $2,300, that’s $232,300. You might expect significant favors when it comes time to make the next round of laws.
I’m going to show you charts from Opensecrets.org which shows contributions to candidates from selected industries. This gives us an idea which industries might expect favors if certain candidates get elected. One caveat: Corporations only give money if they think it’s going to do them any good. So don’t think the fact that Mike Huckabee gets only a few bucks means he’s a "clean" candidate. It’s just the big corporations think he has little chance of winning.
Also, there are no 100% clean candidates. This isn’t a purity test. It’s a gauge of potential political influence.
BANKS
The banks are in a world of hurt, with bad mortgages on one side and a liquidity crisis (actually a solvency crisis, but that’s a topic for another diary) on the other side. The credit crunch alone – not including all those bad mortgages – could cost the big banks about $250 billion.
The banks will be looking for taxpayers to bail them out. Who are the candidates most likely to do that?
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are way, way ahead of the pack on this. The big banks might be right in thinking they’ve bought some serious leverage with these two. John Edwards only comes in eighth. He’s even behind Bill Richardson.
Continued . . .
Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 11:05:09 AM PST
If lobbyists give a politician enough money, they think they own that politician. And they’re probably right.
Let’s see who’s giving what to who ... and who "owns" which candidates.
After all, if you give a candidate $2,300, and convince 100 of your friends/co-workers/underlings to give him $2,300, that’s $232,300. You might expect significant favors when it comes time to make the next round of laws.
I’m going to show you charts from Opensecrets.org which shows contributions to candidates from selected industries. This gives us an idea which industries might expect favors if certain candidates get elected. One caveat: Corporations only give money if they think it’s going to do them any good. So don’t think the fact that Mike Huckabee gets only a few bucks means he’s a "clean" candidate. It’s just the big corporations think he has little chance of winning.
Also, there are no 100% clean candidates. This isn’t a purity test. It’s a gauge of potential political influence.
BANKS
The banks are in a world of hurt, with bad mortgages on one side and a liquidity crisis (actually a solvency crisis, but that’s a topic for another diary) on the other side. The credit crunch alone – not including all those bad mortgages – could cost the big banks about $250 billion.
The banks will be looking for taxpayers to bail them out. Who are the candidates most likely to do that?
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are way, way ahead of the pack on this. The big banks might be right in thinking they’ve bought some serious leverage with these two. John Edwards only comes in eighth. He’s even behind Bill Richardson.
Continued . . .
Minuteman speakers blast Graham's immigration stance
Group critical of illegal immigration, effects on U.S. culture and economy
By Robert Morris - The Sun News
A group of vocal foes of illegal immigration continued to marshal support Friday night, recruiting new members, calling for new laws and escalating their criticism of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The second meeting of the Horry County chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps drew about 150 attendees to the Conway High School auditorium, roughly the same as attended the group's first meeting at the Socastee Library in November.
"This fight is not just about illegal immigration," said state Rep. Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, who helped organize the group. "The fight is about preserving American culture and preserving our way of life."
The senator
Almost every speaker Friday mentioned Graham, by name or by an oblique reference to "the senator."
"He's a traitor to his party and a traitor to all South Carolina people," said Robert Warren, an audience member who spoke during the meeting's open forum. "We can't allow him in there again."
Graham earned the ire of such activists through his support of failed legislation that would have strengthened border security while creating a lengthy path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, dubbed "amnesty" by political opponents.
Scott Farmer, a campaign manager for Graham, declined to discuss the Minuteman group specifically, but defended Graham's position on immigration.
"Senator Graham has always been and continues to be focused on securing the borders. It was his $3 billion amendment that passed the Senate to fund the fence, double border patrol and provide additional detention beds to secure our country," Farmer said.
"I think the senator has been clear about his position, addressing a very difficult and contentious issue based on conservative principles."
Viers said the immigration bill failed because its supporters did not understand the public's wishes.
"We would all be wise to remember the senator up for re-election, where he stands on this issue," Viers said. "I think you'll agree that a change is a-coming."
Continued . . .
By Robert Morris - The Sun News
A group of vocal foes of illegal immigration continued to marshal support Friday night, recruiting new members, calling for new laws and escalating their criticism of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The second meeting of the Horry County chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps drew about 150 attendees to the Conway High School auditorium, roughly the same as attended the group's first meeting at the Socastee Library in November.
"This fight is not just about illegal immigration," said state Rep. Thad Viers, R-Myrtle Beach, who helped organize the group. "The fight is about preserving American culture and preserving our way of life."
The senator
Almost every speaker Friday mentioned Graham, by name or by an oblique reference to "the senator."
"He's a traitor to his party and a traitor to all South Carolina people," said Robert Warren, an audience member who spoke during the meeting's open forum. "We can't allow him in there again."
Graham earned the ire of such activists through his support of failed legislation that would have strengthened border security while creating a lengthy path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, dubbed "amnesty" by political opponents.
Scott Farmer, a campaign manager for Graham, declined to discuss the Minuteman group specifically, but defended Graham's position on immigration.
"Senator Graham has always been and continues to be focused on securing the borders. It was his $3 billion amendment that passed the Senate to fund the fence, double border patrol and provide additional detention beds to secure our country," Farmer said.
"I think the senator has been clear about his position, addressing a very difficult and contentious issue based on conservative principles."
Viers said the immigration bill failed because its supporters did not understand the public's wishes.
"We would all be wise to remember the senator up for re-election, where he stands on this issue," Viers said. "I think you'll agree that a change is a-coming."
Continued . . .
Bush: ‘We Should Have Bombed’ Aushwitz to Stop the Killing - Ignores Fact His Grandfather Profited from Nazi Slave Labor
Jon Ponder Jan. 11, 2008
George Bush toured the Holocaust memorial in Israel yesterday, and through tears, came up with a telling formulation about what his predecessor, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, should have done to stop the horror at the German concentration camps:
President George W. Bush had tears in his eyes during an hour-long tour of Israel’s Holocaust memorial and told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the U.S. should have bombed Auschwitz to halt the killing, the memorial’s chairman said.
Bush emerged from a tour of the Yad Vashem memorial today calling it a “sobering reminder” that evil must be resisted, and praising victims for not losing their faith.
Wearing a yarmulke, Bush placed a red-white-and-blue wreath on a stone slab that covers ashes of Holocaust victims taken from six extermination camps. He also lit a torch memorializing the victims.
Bush was visibly moved as he toured the site, said Yad Vashem’s chairman, Avner Shalev.
“Twice, I saw tears well up in his eyes,” Shalev said.
At one point, Bush viewed aerial photos of the Auschwitz camp taken during the war by U.S. forces and called Rice over to discuss why the American government had decided against bombing the site, Shalev said.
“We should have bombed it,” Bush said, according to Shalev.
Continued . . .
George Bush toured the Holocaust memorial in Israel yesterday, and through tears, came up with a telling formulation about what his predecessor, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, should have done to stop the horror at the German concentration camps:
President George W. Bush had tears in his eyes during an hour-long tour of Israel’s Holocaust memorial and told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the U.S. should have bombed Auschwitz to halt the killing, the memorial’s chairman said.
Bush emerged from a tour of the Yad Vashem memorial today calling it a “sobering reminder” that evil must be resisted, and praising victims for not losing their faith.
Wearing a yarmulke, Bush placed a red-white-and-blue wreath on a stone slab that covers ashes of Holocaust victims taken from six extermination camps. He also lit a torch memorializing the victims.
Bush was visibly moved as he toured the site, said Yad Vashem’s chairman, Avner Shalev.
“Twice, I saw tears well up in his eyes,” Shalev said.
At one point, Bush viewed aerial photos of the Auschwitz camp taken during the war by U.S. forces and called Rice over to discuss why the American government had decided against bombing the site, Shalev said.
“We should have bombed it,” Bush said, according to Shalev.
Continued . . .
Inside the Martial Law Act of 2006
James Bovard
Counterpunch
January 9, 2008
Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist "incident." It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of "public order" — whatever that means.
It took only a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened those restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the United States without the express permission of Congress. (This act was passed after the depredations of the U.S. military throughout the Southern states during Reconstruction.)
But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
The Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus Act aim to deter dictatorship while permitting a narrow window for the president to temporarily use the military at home. But the 2006 reforms basically threw any concern about dictatorial abuses out the window.
Section 1076 of the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act." The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." The new law expands the list of pretexts to include "natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition" — and such a "condition" is not defined or limited.
One might think that given the experience with the USA PATRIOT Act and manyother abuses of power, Congress would be leery about giving this president his biggest blank check yet to suspend the Constitution. But that would be naive.
Continued . . .
Counterpunch
January 9, 2008
Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist "incident." It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of "public order" — whatever that means.
It took only a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened those restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the United States without the express permission of Congress. (This act was passed after the depredations of the U.S. military throughout the Southern states during Reconstruction.)
But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
The Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus Act aim to deter dictatorship while permitting a narrow window for the president to temporarily use the military at home. But the 2006 reforms basically threw any concern about dictatorial abuses out the window.
Section 1076 of the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act." The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." The new law expands the list of pretexts to include "natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition" — and such a "condition" is not defined or limited.
One might think that given the experience with the USA PATRIOT Act and manyother abuses of power, Congress would be leery about giving this president his biggest blank check yet to suspend the Constitution. But that would be naive.
Continued . . .
This is What A Police State Looks Like
This is What A Police State Looks Like
This is a breakdown of what happened in Seattle when the Police attacked the crowd with chemical weapons without provocation or reason. They use video footage from the Police cameras themselves to demonstrate the point that the Police indeed incite riots and ATTACK crowds for no reason.
This is a breakdown of what happened in Seattle when the Police attacked the crowd with chemical weapons without provocation or reason. They use video footage from the Police cameras themselves to demonstrate the point that the Police indeed incite riots and ATTACK crowds for no reason.
2008 presidential charade promises deepening of government criminality and expansion of war
By Larry Chin
Global Research, January 10, 2008
Online Journal
Every election in modern US history has been a criminal manipulation, choreographed and rigged by political elites and performed by hand-picked elite puppets, each backed by their teams of corrupt war criminals, intelligence/security “advisors” and think tank assets. The 2008 affair will be no different.
It is time once again to dispel the mass insanity and unfounded hopes as another fresh election hell ensues. There will be no savior, no end to the continuing world crisis, and absolutely no “change."
The monsters behind each candidate
As the American public once again gets swept up into another beyond, ridiculous carnival over which “presidential personality” is most “likeable," which preselected puppet makes a better speech, etc., there is little or no attention paid to the individuals behind each candidate; the forces that are pulling the strings, and actually setting the geopolitical agenda.
The Washington Post has provided a complete list of each puppet’s respective “masters," which must be studied line by line:
The War Over The Wonks: A list of national security and foreign policy advisors to the leading presidential candidates from both parties
This list holds the key to the central issue: war.
As the names reveal, every major candidate (the favored puppets with any real chance of being selected) fronts for agendas set by current and former neoconservative and neoliberal “security” officers and politicos, members of the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, and apparatuses such as the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution, AIPAC, the Hoover Institution, the American Enterprise Institute, and others.
Some of the most nightmarish individuals who walk the earth today can be found behind the candidates, as follows:
Continued . . .
Freedom Of Speech
Wow! You've gotta see this!
Stop what you're doing for 10 minutes!
You'll be glad you did... sort of.
Stop what you're doing for 10 minutes!
You'll be glad you did... sort of.
Admirers of Constitution Booted for Wearing Impeach T-shirts in DC
By Ralph Lopez
With the original First Amendment "Freedom of Speech" looking on, admirers of the U.S. Constitution in the Washington D.C. National Archives Building today were ordered to leave for wearing tee-shirts reading "Impeach Bush and Cheney." Many of the tourist-activists were in town to hail the arrival of impeachment marcher John Nirenberg, the 61 year-old college professor who has just walked from Boston to D.C. to call attention to the need for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
In a telephone interview, one of the participants, Susan Serpa, age 56, told me she was looking at the displays when a female security guard approached her and said "You need to go speak to that man over there" indicating a burly security guard. When Serpa asked why, the woman said: "Your shirt." Serpa's shirt reads on the front: "Impeach Bush and Cheney, Change History." On the reverse it says: "MaineImpeach.org."
Other security guards then approached Serpa and told her: "You need to leave because of your shirt."
The ranking security officer present at the incident gave his name as Captain Judd.
An impeachment resolution against Dick Cheney was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and is now sitting in the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers. Despite pleas from growing numbers of Americans, Conyers has continued to keep the resolution bottled up, and steadfastly refuses to move it forward. The number for Conyers' office is 202-225-3951.
A contact list for Conyers' major campaign contributors has been compiled by YaliesForImpeachment, along with a full contact list of Judiciary Committee members.
Continued . . .
With the original First Amendment "Freedom of Speech" looking on, admirers of the U.S. Constitution in the Washington D.C. National Archives Building today were ordered to leave for wearing tee-shirts reading "Impeach Bush and Cheney." Many of the tourist-activists were in town to hail the arrival of impeachment marcher John Nirenberg, the 61 year-old college professor who has just walked from Boston to D.C. to call attention to the need for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
In a telephone interview, one of the participants, Susan Serpa, age 56, told me she was looking at the displays when a female security guard approached her and said "You need to go speak to that man over there" indicating a burly security guard. When Serpa asked why, the woman said: "Your shirt." Serpa's shirt reads on the front: "Impeach Bush and Cheney, Change History." On the reverse it says: "MaineImpeach.org."
Other security guards then approached Serpa and told her: "You need to leave because of your shirt."
The ranking security officer present at the incident gave his name as Captain Judd.
An impeachment resolution against Dick Cheney was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and is now sitting in the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers. Despite pleas from growing numbers of Americans, Conyers has continued to keep the resolution bottled up, and steadfastly refuses to move it forward. The number for Conyers' office is 202-225-3951.
A contact list for Conyers' major campaign contributors has been compiled by YaliesForImpeachment, along with a full contact list of Judiciary Committee members.
Continued . . .
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Vitamins and Minerals Become Illegal Dec 31, 2009
The Codex Alimentarius is a threat to the freedom of people to choose natural healing and alternative medicine and nutrition. Ratified by ... all » the World Health Organization, and going into Law in the United States in 2009, the threat to health freedom has never been greater.
This is the first part of a series of talks by Dr. Rima Laibow MD, available on DVD from the Natural Solutions Foundation, an non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about how to stop Codex Alimentarius from taking away our right to freely choose nutritional health.
This is the first part of a series of talks by Dr. Rima Laibow MD, available on DVD from the Natural Solutions Foundation, an non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about how to stop Codex Alimentarius from taking away our right to freely choose nutritional health.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Trans Texas Corridor Plans to Pave over Branch Davidians
Stu Nelson
JonesReport.com
January 7, 2008
Lets go back in time to February 28, 1993. We watch on the TV news as agents from the BATF storm a building somewhere outside Waco Texas. We hear that 4 BATF agents are killed. The news tells us all these people are religious gun freak fanatics whose leader is a child molester. Is that an accurate summation?
Well, for those of us in Texas, we have largely considered the best view of Waco was in the rear view mirror. Waco was a city you drove thru to get somewhere else. And, we had certainly never even heard of "those Branch people" before. Most of us did not really know what to make of this standoff outside Waco. The FBI, BATF, DPS, etc. ran pretty good propaganda…for a while.
This map shows the Branch Davidian property (in light red) off of Double EE Ranch road and the rebuilt Davidian church itself (circled in red) directly under the planned route of the Trans-Texas Corridor (the diagonal dotted line.
Continued . . .
JonesReport.com
January 7, 2008
Lets go back in time to February 28, 1993. We watch on the TV news as agents from the BATF storm a building somewhere outside Waco Texas. We hear that 4 BATF agents are killed. The news tells us all these people are religious gun freak fanatics whose leader is a child molester. Is that an accurate summation?
Well, for those of us in Texas, we have largely considered the best view of Waco was in the rear view mirror. Waco was a city you drove thru to get somewhere else. And, we had certainly never even heard of "those Branch people" before. Most of us did not really know what to make of this standoff outside Waco. The FBI, BATF, DPS, etc. ran pretty good propaganda…for a while.
This map shows the Branch Davidian property (in light red) off of Double EE Ranch road and the rebuilt Davidian church itself (circled in red) directly under the planned route of the Trans-Texas Corridor (the diagonal dotted line.
Continued . . .
Strand businesses becoming multi-lingual
By Steve Porter
The Herald
Street signs remain in English
Myrtle Beach—The influx of foreigners into the Myrtle Beach area has sparked fears among some residents that the city might become a bi-lingual community such as Miami, San Antonio or San Diego where Spanish seems at times to be the predominant language on the street. One of the gripes heard most often is about the local business telephone answering machine that requests the caller to press “1” for English.
There is no doubt about the influx of foreign language speaking people and it’s hard to ignore the fact that many Grand Strand businesses are providing information to consumers and workers in two languages, if not more in some cases.
Most of the big box stores, in fact, routinely post signs and advertising in both English and Spanish.
Myrtle Beach’s city government is also trying to accommodate non-English speaking visitors and immigrants. Mark Kruea, the city’s public information officer, says the city has no plans at this point to start posting bi-lingual street signs and other services as one might find in a city such as Miami.
Continued . . .
S.C. to stick with voting machines
Election devices criticized, banned in other states
The Associated Press
GREENVILLE --S.C. election officials say they still plan to use touch-screen voting machines despite the fact that other states have banned the use of similar systems made by the same company.
Last month, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that Election Systems and Software's iVotronic is unfit for elections.
The ban was prompted by a study done for the state of Ohio in which researchers found that electronic voting systems could be corrupted with magnets or with some handheld electronic devices, such as Treos.
"We've reviewed the report and we remain confident in the security and accuracy of South Carolina's voting system," state Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.
But the S.C. League of Women Voters has renewed its call for the state to record votes on paper as well as electronically to allow for accuracy checks, though there have been no documented cases of actual election tampering.
"It's very difficult to get evidence that somebody tampered with the vote if you have no way of knowing what the vote was before they tampered," said Eleanor Hare, a computer scientist who participated in a study of the machines by the S.C. League of Women Voters.
The machines have been used statewide since 2006.
Continued . . .
The Associated Press
GREENVILLE --S.C. election officials say they still plan to use touch-screen voting machines despite the fact that other states have banned the use of similar systems made by the same company.
Last month, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that Election Systems and Software's iVotronic is unfit for elections.
The ban was prompted by a study done for the state of Ohio in which researchers found that electronic voting systems could be corrupted with magnets or with some handheld electronic devices, such as Treos.
"We've reviewed the report and we remain confident in the security and accuracy of South Carolina's voting system," state Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.
But the S.C. League of Women Voters has renewed its call for the state to record votes on paper as well as electronically to allow for accuracy checks, though there have been no documented cases of actual election tampering.
"It's very difficult to get evidence that somebody tampered with the vote if you have no way of knowing what the vote was before they tampered," said Eleanor Hare, a computer scientist who participated in a study of the machines by the S.C. League of Women Voters.
The machines have been used statewide since 2006.
Continued . . .
Howard Stern Loves Ron Paul
**WARNING** Howard Stern can't contain himself and uses plenty of freedom of speech that might be found a bit much. Viewer discretion is advised.
America's Third World War
John Stockwell: America's Third World War
video by Kurt Nimmo, truthnews.us
How 6 million people were killed in CIA secret wars against third world countries.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Osama bin Laden is Dead
Murdered by intelligence agency supported terrorists
Who murdered Benazir Bhutto?
The two issues may be related
When Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan to take a stand for democratic government, 3million Pakistanis greeted her at the airport.
Now she is dead.
At the 6:15 mark in this video, Benazir Bhutto refers in a matter-of-fact manner to "the man who killed Osama bin Laden."
If this was a misstatement, she did not correct herself, nor did the interviewer call attention to it.
Before she was murdered, there was a previous attack on Bhutto's life. She told David Frost that she was not even allowed to file a police report let alone get a serious investigation of the attack.
She stated that she specifically wanted the source of the financial support of the terrorists traced.
Saeed Sheikh is the man Bhutto refers to in this interview as being the killer of Osama bin Laden.
Saeed Sheikh is charged with killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who tracked the relationship between Pakistani intelligence and terrorist groups. Saeed Sheikh is also suspected of having wired money to Mohamed Atta on behalf of Pakistani intelligence right before the 9/11 attacks.
George Bush & Company wholeheartedly support the current Pakistani regime.
Article
Who murdered Benazir Bhutto?
The two issues may be related
When Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan to take a stand for democratic government, 3million Pakistanis greeted her at the airport.
Now she is dead.
At the 6:15 mark in this video, Benazir Bhutto refers in a matter-of-fact manner to "the man who killed Osama bin Laden."
If this was a misstatement, she did not correct herself, nor did the interviewer call attention to it.
Before she was murdered, there was a previous attack on Bhutto's life. She told David Frost that she was not even allowed to file a police report let alone get a serious investigation of the attack.
She stated that she specifically wanted the source of the financial support of the terrorists traced.
Saeed Sheikh is the man Bhutto refers to in this interview as being the killer of Osama bin Laden.
Saeed Sheikh is charged with killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who tracked the relationship between Pakistani intelligence and terrorist groups. Saeed Sheikh is also suspected of having wired money to Mohamed Atta on behalf of Pakistani intelligence right before the 9/11 attacks.
George Bush & Company wholeheartedly support the current Pakistani regime.
Article
CIA Cocaine - Then and now
2007
1990s
1980s
On and on it goes
Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Webb, the journalist who broke the original CIA-Crack story in the 1990s, was rewarded by his employer the San Jose Mercury with a demotion.
He was also hounded out of the journalism profession by a smear campaign whose participants included the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Examiner.
In 2004, Webb who remained active as an independent journalist reportedly, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head - twice.
Webb joined three other men - authors Danny Casolaro and J.H. Hatfield and artist Mark Lombardi - who "committed suicide" after getting too close to Bush family secrets.
I asked a mathematician to calculate the numerical odds of four American men who all were interested in this subject committing suicide and this is what he said:
"Examining the male U.S.suicide rate for recent years, we can extrapolate a conservative estimate of 17 male suicides per 100,000 people, or 0.017%. The odds of 4 specific, male biographers committing suicide would be the 4th power of 17/100000, or 8.3521 4.913 x 10^-17...roughly 1 chance 10,000,000,000,000,000. About as good a definition of impossible as you can get.
A person would stand a better chance of playing the Canadian lottery 6/49 exactly twice in one's lifetime and winning the grand jackpot BOTH TIMES! (That is, picking 6 numbers out of 49 possible numbers and matching all 6 numbers out of 6 random draws, on 2 separate occasions, and having only purchased two Canadian lottery tickets ever.)
This calculation should be regarded as a conservative estimate: the actual odds against such a "coincidence" would be much greater. For example, if any of the biographers were female, the odds would be even greater."
See also--
http://www.madcowprod.com/
http://narconews.com/
1990s
1980s
On and on it goes
Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Webb, the journalist who broke the original CIA-Crack story in the 1990s, was rewarded by his employer the San Jose Mercury with a demotion.
He was also hounded out of the journalism profession by a smear campaign whose participants included the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Examiner.
In 2004, Webb who remained active as an independent journalist reportedly, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head - twice.
Webb joined three other men - authors Danny Casolaro and J.H. Hatfield and artist Mark Lombardi - who "committed suicide" after getting too close to Bush family secrets.
I asked a mathematician to calculate the numerical odds of four American men who all were interested in this subject committing suicide and this is what he said:
"Examining the male U.S.suicide rate for recent years, we can extrapolate a conservative estimate of 17 male suicides per 100,000 people, or 0.017%. The odds of 4 specific, male biographers committing suicide would be the 4th power of 17/100000, or 8.3521 4.913 x 10^-17...roughly 1 chance 10,000,000,000,000,000. About as good a definition of impossible as you can get.
A person would stand a better chance of playing the Canadian lottery 6/49 exactly twice in one's lifetime and winning the grand jackpot BOTH TIMES! (That is, picking 6 numbers out of 49 possible numbers and matching all 6 numbers out of 6 random draws, on 2 separate occasions, and having only purchased two Canadian lottery tickets ever.)
This calculation should be regarded as a conservative estimate: the actual odds against such a "coincidence" would be much greater. For example, if any of the biographers were female, the odds would be even greater."
See also--
http://www.madcowprod.com/
http://narconews.com/
WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT FEAR ARMED VETERANS?
by Alan Stang
January 4, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
Recent passage by the District of Criminals of the legislation known colloquially as the Veteran Disarmament bill raises the question of why the conspiracy for world government would want to disarm returning veterans. The conspiracy trusted these men to use the most devastating ordinance abroad; it does not trust them to keep and bear much smaller weapons here at home. The obvious answer is that these are the millions of well trained military men I was talking about in my recent piece about a possible assassination threat to Dr. Ron Paul.
These are the men the psychos at the top are afraid of, the men who can stick the red dot in their eye from a mile away. The psychos know these men are out there, watching, stewing, temperatures rising every day; they are beginning to understand that they are dying now because the psychos have poisoned them with Depleted Uranium in the field.
They are beginning to realize that the buddies and the limbs they left behind in Iraq were lost not in defense of this beloved country but in behalf of the megalomaniacal nightmare of conquest the psychos think is “normal.” Now the veterans understand that the monsters who sent them half way around the world to get sick are dismantling the system of freedom the Founding Fathers gave us here at home.
Continued . . .
January 4, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
Recent passage by the District of Criminals of the legislation known colloquially as the Veteran Disarmament bill raises the question of why the conspiracy for world government would want to disarm returning veterans. The conspiracy trusted these men to use the most devastating ordinance abroad; it does not trust them to keep and bear much smaller weapons here at home. The obvious answer is that these are the millions of well trained military men I was talking about in my recent piece about a possible assassination threat to Dr. Ron Paul.
These are the men the psychos at the top are afraid of, the men who can stick the red dot in their eye from a mile away. The psychos know these men are out there, watching, stewing, temperatures rising every day; they are beginning to understand that they are dying now because the psychos have poisoned them with Depleted Uranium in the field.
They are beginning to realize that the buddies and the limbs they left behind in Iraq were lost not in defense of this beloved country but in behalf of the megalomaniacal nightmare of conquest the psychos think is “normal.” Now the veterans understand that the monsters who sent them half way around the world to get sick are dismantling the system of freedom the Founding Fathers gave us here at home.
Continued . . .
Bush Prepares to Pass Baton to Hillary
by Paul Hogarth‚
Sep. 24‚ 2007
The Washington Post this weekend reported an off-the-record meeting that President Bush had at the White House with various pundits, where he predicted that Hillary Clinton will be the next President. Bush is shaping his legacy, said the Post, and is planning to make it feasible for his successor to keep us in Iraq. It’s a sharp contrast with Hillary’s support among Democratic voters, who think she’s more likely to get us out of Iraq and are more likely to view her as “liberal” than John Edwards or Barack Obama. But if you parse Hillary’s statements, she has left enough wiggle room for a Clinton Administration to stay in Iraq for a while. It is easy to dismiss Bush’s talk as delusional, but in recent years Hillary’s husband has developed a close personal friendship with the elder President George Bush as if 1992 never happened – suggesting a stronger tie between the two political families than one might imagine.
Last week, Bush invited top Beltway pundits – including ABC’s George Stephanopoulos – to the White House for a casual discussion. The media were told not to directly quote the President, but they could repeat what transpired in the talks. “Bush made no explicit election predictions,” reported the Post, “but clearly thought Clinton would win the Democratic nomination and talked in a way that seemed to suggest he expects her to succeed him – and will continue his Iraq policy if she does.”
That certainly flies in the face of how Democrats generally perceive Hillary Clinton – who has held a steady lead for the presidential nomination. Despite her initial support for the War, her refusal to apologize, and her late support for withdrawal, Democrats by a 2-1 margin think that she is more likely to get us out of Iraq. Clinton also pledged on yesterday’s “Meet the Press” that she will oppose further funding of the War as the Senate votes in the coming weeks.
But take a closer look at what Hillary says, and it is not certain what her plans would be about getting us out. Like the other candidates, she is crystal clear about saying she would begin withdrawal – but is vague about when all of our troops would come home. She promised on yesterday’s “Meet the Press” to “end our involvement” in Iraq, but qualified it “at the level that we’ve seen.” Clinton would have fewer troops than what we have right now, but her words imply keeping a residual force for an undetermined period of time.
Which is really not that different from what Bush – who has taken initial steps towards reducing the surge – told the Beltway reporters. “He indicated that he wants to use his final 16 months to stabilize Iraq enough,” said the Post, “and redefine the U.S. mission there so that the next president would feel politically able to keep a smaller but long-term presence in the country.”
Continued . . .
Welcom To The Bigger Picture
...If I were planning to destroy the agricultural cycle to make men into my slaves for food, here’s what I’d do...
They are critical components without which the cycle of plant life is broken. Earthworms and bees are very important. Einstein said if we lose the bees we have 5 years left for humanity.
*This is done through petro-chemical fertilizers and pesticides known to be toxic to bees among other things. Most of the worms are already gone. I think Chemtrails and the frequencies they use have a lot to do with the bees.
2. Centralize all food production and distribution.
*Monsanto, Kraft, Sysco, SaveMart etc
Go to www.TheMeatrix.com and watch the 1st video. Small Farmers are being destroyed at a rapid rate. "Get Big or Get Out" is a common phrase around here. I live in farm country.
Monsanto Sues and Places Gag Orders on Small Farmers
The Future of Food Introduction
3. Release bio-weapons into the environment to destroy all private farming not owned by me using germ warfare and terminator seed stock.
*Monsanto self-terminating seeds, GMO crops, GMO Pollen, etc
4. Create an economic collapse by printing fiat currency to pay debts during a war without limits against a vaguely defined enemy.
Fiat Empire - A Closer Look at the Federal Reserve
Frontlines - Fuel of War
5. Create my own private storage vault for seeds so I would control the world’s food supply in the resulting famine.
They just built this (or will being soon) underground on an island deep in the Arctic Ocean.
6. I would move all currency onto electronic chips and track everything with RFID-(Radio Frequency Identifier)
RFID is already here to stay, regardless of if you have heard of it or not. It is already in wide use throughout the world. They use it on babies, the elderly, prisoners, sex offenders, dogs, packages etc. People are getting them implanted into themselves on purpose. These chips will store ALL of your personal information on it. All of information, your "money", medical info....everything. And they are ALREADY being hacked. This can be hacked at a distance.
So, back to the food. You will need these chips/cards with chips to buy ANYTHING and be granted access to certain buildings. Well, if they turn your card off you not really welcome in many buildings anymore because you can't buy anything and barter is illegal because "you'r not paying taxes" so off to the debtors prison with you.
How RFID works
They are Already in US Passports
Rockefeller Interview & Real ID/RFID
NEW WORLD ORDER EXPOSED
RFID: Tracking Everything Part 1
The Rest of the Series
The Microchip-Alex Jones
ENTER THE PRISON PLANET
CCTV Expanding Its Reach
Britain takes the lead in the Surveillance Society
http://www.cctvcore.co.uk/05-02-2007-cctv-expanding-its-reach.html
Yes,They Are Watching you
Even the Government's Information Tsar thinks things have gone too far – computer records on all children and fingerprint checks for motorists...
Iain Hollingshead investigates
WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER
THESE THINGS HAVE ALL HAPPENED OR ARE HAPPENING.....WAKE UP PEOPLE....YOU CAN SLEEP NOW BUT YOUR CHILDREN WILL SUFFER.
Hungry people will do or say anything to put something into their bellies.
There is only one course of action for free men worldwide and that is to GET READY AND GET ACTIVE.. Grow your own food. Support local farms. Buy Organics. Reject GMO foods altogether. It will be our ruin if we don't!
START LEARNING
If you don't know where to start, start here:
Add my other Page and Lets Start Talking Solutions:
Georgilla Only Solutions Gorilla
Scientists ask: Where are all the bees?
A Dade City beekeeper sounds a nationwide alarm as colonies mysteriously disappear.
By DAN DEWITT
Published March 3, 2007
Source
Do you Want Monsanto to Own Those Seeds???
Source
Has a highly toxic cancerous agent contaminated Myrtle Beach's water supply? (Local News)
An article published by the Sun News today has revealed that there is a possiblity that our water supply has been contaminated with the highly toxic cancerous agent, Trichloroethylene.
The article goes on to say:
"Electronics manufacturer AVX illegally dumped groundwater laced with TCE, an industrial degreaser, into the sewer at its 17th Avenue South facility from at least 1985 to 1996".
"The earliest test for TCE that the city can find is from May 2000 - at least 15 years after AVX started dumping the water into the sewer."
The city used deep-water wells for its drinking water supply until a municipal water treatment plant went online in 1987. One of those wells is on land adjacent to AVX's facility on 17th Avenue South. Another is on 13th Avenue South, where TCE contamination was found in shallow groundwater.
TCE, which is heavier than water, sinks to the bottom of aquifers and forms large pools called plumes. It can take decades to treat and clean contaminated groundwater.
Geologists say the only way TCE could have gotten into the city's drinking water is if one of the deep-water wells located near shallow contamination was poorly grouted, and the toxic chemical went down the annular space between the well's casing and borehole wall.
AVX learned it had high levels of TCE contamination in groundwater at its property as early as 1991, but did not tell state regulators or city officials about the problem until 14 years later.
When I did some searching online to see what effects TCE has on the body, I found this:
Trichloroethylene is one of the chemicals suspected of causing a cluster of childhood leukemia cases due to drinking water contamination in the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, in the early 1980s. The subsequent lawsuit against the polluting company was the subject of the 1995 book and 1998 film, A Civil Action. Source
We have to do do something about this! If anyone out there knows where to find epidemiological studies on leukemia cases in Myrtle Beach than PLEASE let me or the author, (Contact DAVID WREN at 626-0281 or dwren@thesunnews.com) know!
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Full Sun News Article
Click Here
The article goes on to say:
"Electronics manufacturer AVX illegally dumped groundwater laced with TCE, an industrial degreaser, into the sewer at its 17th Avenue South facility from at least 1985 to 1996".
"The earliest test for TCE that the city can find is from May 2000 - at least 15 years after AVX started dumping the water into the sewer."
The city used deep-water wells for its drinking water supply until a municipal water treatment plant went online in 1987. One of those wells is on land adjacent to AVX's facility on 17th Avenue South. Another is on 13th Avenue South, where TCE contamination was found in shallow groundwater.
TCE, which is heavier than water, sinks to the bottom of aquifers and forms large pools called plumes. It can take decades to treat and clean contaminated groundwater.
Geologists say the only way TCE could have gotten into the city's drinking water is if one of the deep-water wells located near shallow contamination was poorly grouted, and the toxic chemical went down the annular space between the well's casing and borehole wall.
AVX learned it had high levels of TCE contamination in groundwater at its property as early as 1991, but did not tell state regulators or city officials about the problem until 14 years later.
When I did some searching online to see what effects TCE has on the body, I found this:
Trichloroethylene is one of the chemicals suspected of causing a cluster of childhood leukemia cases due to drinking water contamination in the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, in the early 1980s. The subsequent lawsuit against the polluting company was the subject of the 1995 book and 1998 film, A Civil Action. Source
We have to do do something about this! If anyone out there knows where to find epidemiological studies on leukemia cases in Myrtle Beach than PLEASE let me or the author, (Contact DAVID WREN at 626-0281 or dwren@thesunnews.com) know!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Sun News Article
Click Here
Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US
Agence France-PressePublished: Thursday December 20, 2007
The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.
A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.
They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.
Continued . . .
The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.
A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.
They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.
Continued . . .
NH GOP drops sponsorship of FOX debate
Source
The New Hampshire Republican Party dropped their affiliation with a Republican debate sponsored by Fox News tomorrow night because they have limited the number of candidates that can participate.
The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field," said Republican chair Fergus Cullen. "Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures."
The Fox debate is excluding Texas Congressman Ron Paul even though he polls higher in New Hampshire and has raised significantly more money, and is campaigning more in New Hampshire than Fred Thompson who is invited.
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The New Hampshire Republican Party dropped their affiliation with a Republican debate sponsored by Fox News tomorrow night because they have limited the number of candidates that can participate.
The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field," said Republican chair Fergus Cullen. "Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures."
The Fox debate is excluding Texas Congressman Ron Paul even though he polls higher in New Hampshire and has raised significantly more money, and is campaigning more in New Hampshire than Fred Thompson who is invited.
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